In automated systems for stitching characters or letters on materials, such as clothing, various advances have taken place to increase the efficiency of the stitching operation. For example, it is known to select a letter to be stitched along with a number of stitch parameters to define the appearance of the letter on the stitched material. The stitch parameters include, for example, letter height, letter width, stitch density, stitch length, and horizontal and vertical spacing between letters. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,334 to Childs et al. However, previously devised stitching apparatus have not provided the operator with the capability of storing predetermined stitch parameters and then subsequently recalling them for use with a number of letters to be stitched.
Generally, the present invention provides the operator with the capability of stitching a number of letters having the same desired stitch parameters, without requiring the operator to input the same stitch parameters through a keyboard each time another letter or letters is selected for stitching. Instead, the operator is able to input and afterwards recall the desired stitch parameters and apply them to selected letters. In a further aspect of the present invention, the operator is able to store different stitch parameters and letters to repetitively stitch letters having common stitch parameters as many times as desired.